Pavel Kiselyov

Count Pavel Kiselyov was a Russian officer and statesman, generally regarded as the most brilliant reformer of the conservative reign of Nicholas I. After serving at Borodino and marching to Paris in the Napoleonic Wars, he governed Wallachia and Moldavia as plenipotentiary president of their Divans from 1829 to 1834, when the two got their first constitutions, the Organic Statute, in 1831 and 1832. As Minister of State Properties for 18 years he reformed the administration of state-owned peasants and set up schools for their children, while his plans to emancipate the serfs were laid to rest. Sent to Paris as envoy after the Crimean War, he retired in 1862 and died there in 1872.